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SK Innovation, Korea’s largest energy chemical company, is accelerating its transition to an eco-friendly business model by focusing on the plastic recycling business and expanding its range of eco-friendly products. As part of this initiative, the company launched the “Sanhaejinmi” campaign with the goal of raising awareness about the environmental impact of plastic waste and promoting daily eco-friendly practices. The company’s management and employees participated in creating a campaign song and a music video, which were received well by the general public, especially through social media events. Another key strategy was the implementation of an intensive practice period called “Sanhaejinmi Week, during which employees were encouraged to share photos of their eco-friendly practices on Instagram. Local business sites also played a crucial role by motivating stakeholders in their respective locations to participate in campaign activities. In 2022, the campaign achieved significant engagement, with 266,389 people participating in plogging, which resulted in the collection of a total of 1,202,744 kg of garbage. The post-campaign survey confirmed the success of the campaign in influencing citizens’ awareness of the environmental pollution crisis.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has consistently received the attention of scholars and practitioners in various academic disciplines, including economics, politics, society, and public relations. In this context, the nature of CSR in developing countries becomes an emerging question because of the business expansion of multinational corporations (MNCs) in these countries. Vietnam is a country with a unique political, economic, and sociocultural context, experiencing rapid economic growth despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this paper explores the CSR approaches, government cooperation, and CSR activities of “big-six” enterprises from different industries between 2018 to 2022 using a content analysis to capture and analyze the CSR initiatives. Our research is the first to highlight some theoretical frameworks in the Vietnamese context that contribute to developing global CSR debates.

In the field of PR, finding ways to simplify and convey complex information to the general public is a challenging task. From this perspective, LG Electronics’ event “LG ThinQ Escape Cafe,” aimed at making it easier to introduce the smart home platform ThinQ to Generation Z, was a successful endeavor. The planning and execution were meticulously aligned with the target audience’s perspective, effectively stimulating consumers’ emotions. As a result, the event was extended to a season 2, and participants’ voluntary content naturally gained exposure on online portals. In particular, the success of this event provides solutions for companies on how they should convey technology-related content that consumers find difficult to acquire or use. Based on this LG Electronics event, this article aims to provide valuable insight on how to convey complex technology-related information and plan events that can garner a positive response from Generation Z.

The study aimed to test the influence of a certified seal indicating corporate social responsibility (CSR) on perceived CSR, attitude, and supportive behavioral intention. To test the hypotheses of the study, a post-test-only experiment with two conditions (presence vs. absence of CSR-certified seal) was executed using an online experiment, and we recruited participants (n = 157) across the United States. The results indicated that the presence of the CSR-certified seal in the annual report was more effective in generating better perceived CSR evaluation, positive attitude toward the corporation, and behavior intention among the participants than the absence of the CSR-certified seal in the same annual report. A serial mediation test showed that a CSR-certified seal led to increased behavioral intention through perceived CSR and attitudes. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.

Based on the stakeholder theory and the CSR communication model, which are informed by models in public relations, this study proposed and examined two key factors of social media strategies that contribute to raising the public's positive perception of stakeholder engagement in CSR, which in turn leads to positive CSR reputation and behavioral intentions. A 2(communication on CSR building strategies: top-down vs. co-creation) x 2 (social media communication strategy: responsive communication vs. involvement communication strategy) full factorial design online experiment was conducted. The results showed that communication about the co-creative approach of CSR development leads to positive perceptions of stakeholder CSR engagement. Stakeholder involvement social media communication strategies also elicited positive perceptions of stakeholder engagement in CSR. The use of stakeholder involvement communication strategies on social media has been shown to partially offset the negative impact of a top-down approach in CSR development. This study demonstrates the impact of two proposed factors on CSR outcomes by linking stakeholder engagement perceptions of CSR with CSR reputation, supportive communication intentions, and purchase intentions, which are in part mediated by trust in commitment. These findings enhance our understanding of how to effectively engage stakeholders in CSR on social media by providing both theoretical and practical implications.

In the age of globalization, understanding what and how foreign publics think of a nation is essential because it provides valuable insights into the directions of public diplomacy. In this regard, this study examined the American public’s perceptions of China - particularly, its significant hard and soft power factors and overall world influence. A dataset of 2,046 responses was analyzed from the 2018 national survey in the U.S. While two hard power factors (i.e., economic power and military strength) were the strongest predictors of an evaluation of China’s world influence, soft power factors, such as presidential image and technology/innovation, also contributed to a positive evaluation of China. This study showed current challenges being faced by China as well as opportunities for Chinese public diplomacy efforts.

This paper examines how the intensity of social media use affects anti-fat attitudes by considering the mediating effects of three main attributions—internal, social, and physical—on obesity stigma. Participants were 213 college students in the United States who completed a paper survey. A mediation analysis model using the PROCESS macro (Model 4) was employed to test the research question and hypotheses. Intensity of social media use did not show a relationship with internal and social causes, but it did show a significant relationship with physical causes. Physical causes had a negative mediating effect on anti-fat attitudes. This implies that the higher the intensity of social media use, the higher the physical causes and the lower the anti-fat attitudes. The intensity of social media use had no direct relationship with anti-fat attitudes. Theoretical and practical implications were suggested.

The current study examines how collegiate institutions in a Confucius value-laden society engage in communication with its internal public, from the perspective of the school public relations approach using five dimensions of relational constructs (trust, control mutuality, relational satisfaction, relational commitment, face-work). Interviews with 26 undergraduate students at a 4-year institution in Korea revealed that students identified three relationships in their OPR, namely, university-student, departmentstudent, and professor-student. Findings show that students identified the university's main goal ought to be providing employment opportunities to college students; and department-student relationship as impersonal and one-directional. In terms of the professor-student relationship, students identified that trust and commitment are established with professors' expertise and efforts, but the presence of imbalanced power due to social and contextual factors; wanting to be closer to professors but feeling distant and keeping distance intentionally to maintain professors' and their own faces are at work. Findings contribute to the literature on OPR, School Public Relations and relational constructs; suggestions for follow-up studies and implications are discussed.

This study revealed the differences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) presentation through a content analysis of 174 American and Chinese corporate websites. The findings showed that websites of the U.S. companies on the Fortune Global 500 list demonstrated more thorough CSR representation than their Chinese counterparts. Specifically, the U.S. websites focused on the majority of the CSR topics such as environment, diversity and equal opportunity, charitable giving, and volunteering. On the other hand, Chinese websites seemed to focus on a limited number of CSR themes. The findings also revealed cultural differences of the CSR communication between the two countries. Chinese company websites display more power distance, collectivism, long-term orientation than the U.S. company websites. On the other hand, the U.S. company websites displayed more uncertainty avoidance than their Chinese counterparts. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Based on the essentials of the Korean Academic Society for Public Relations (KASPR) 2022 Distinguished Lecture given by Dr. Glen T. Cameron and Dr. Yan Jin, this conceptual piece provides an overview of the contingency theory of strategic conflict management, its application to research, and future directions, with a focus on the theory-practice interconnections of the contingency theory in public relations across multiple contexts. How the contingency theory has been and can be further applied to advancing crisis communication and conflict management research and practice in Asia is further discussed.